The day after we got back from Park City, on Father's Day, Bernie had to fly to South Caroline.
His company is based there; he travels all over for them so he can "work" from home, but often has to go back to the "Mother Ship" for a few days at a time.
A few weeks earlier he had booked another fishing trip on the Green River, this time on the middle section, or Part B.
(How we did the first and last part the last time without going through the middle part I still don't quite understand.)
Anyhoo...he got back about 10 pm on Wednesday night; we got up at 5 am on Thursday and drove the 3 1/2 hours over to the river for a mid morning start.
With the sky staying light until nine pm, it was still possible to get in a full day of fishing even with our later than usual start.
The weather was absolutely perfect.
Not too hot, not too cold, not too windy.
And the cicada were hatching!
Epic moment for fish folk.
Seriously, people fly in to fish when cicada are hatching!
So as before: Bernie fished, our guide rowed and I sat in the back of the boat taking pictures.
At one point I mentioned to our guide/oar man Kevin that the red rocks flanking the river looked like something one would see at Disneyland.
(When you grow up close to Disneyland and far from the great outdoors, you tend to think the outdoors looks like Disneyland instead of Disneyland looking like the outdoors.)
Kevin doesn't volunteer a lot of information but he casually told me that that the movie Jeremiah Johnson's camp scene was filmed in the small meadow facing the wall of rock.
That was hard to imagine: How on earth did they get generators and camera gear out there?
Now I want to see that movie again!
This part of the river had a rapids that was rocky enough that we were let off to the river side and told to walk down river while our guide steered over the rapids.
He does this all the time; really not worried about being tipped over as that has never happened to him but just to be on the safe side, he had us walk a bit.
That's Bernie in the orange; I was diddling around taking pictures and got a bit behind him.
I didn't take as many shots of this part of the river as I did on the other parts during our last trip.
It was not quite as a dramatic passage, but it did have its moments of unique beauty.
And it had fish.
Feisty fish!
Lots and lots and lots of fish.
Bernie hooked closed to thirty fish this trip.
Last trip he hooked 13 and I took a photo of each one.
This trip...I lost count and lost interest in getting a photo of each fish in the few seconds we had them in the boat before they were quickly released back into the river.
Bernie takes no chances with sunburn.
Usually he fishes with fishing gloves too.
He generously gave his pair to me so the back of my hands wouldn't burn and I wouldn't have to have sunscreen on my hands.
One of the fish caught...
and another one....
And another one...
In some places the Green River looks like a river of lime green koolaid.
Bernie must have casted a thousand times, and after each cast there was the tiny reeling back.
His arm was a little tired the next day.
Our guide Kevin asked me if I had ever seen Bernie so giddy.
He was pretty giddy and chatty.
So good to see him happy!
Happy indeed!
I am constantly torn between using my 60mm lens to get crystal clear shots in the boat and my telephoto lens for shots along the shore.
These two ducks didn't seem to care to be photographed regardless of the lens I used.
There were several Mama Ducks with babies paddling around.
Gee that was a pretty fish....
Sometimes the German Browns have bright red spots and other times the spots are all brown.
No one could tell me why that is.
No one could tell me why that is.
Along the river there are campsites for both overnight and day use.
Families were enjoying their day on the river too.
Our guide told me of a time that he had lunched at one of those sites.
After he pushed off back onto the river he looked back and saw that a bear was up in the tree directly over the picnic table where he had just lunched.
After hearing that I sort of lost interest in camping on the river.
Muskrats kept swimming by like they had business on the other shore.
Very purposeful swimming.
I had never seen a muskrat before.
Duck population explosion.
There were several more ducklings ahead and behind this shot.
A slightly closer picture of another muskrat.
The boat is bobbing too...it is really tricky to get good photos of critters in the water.
During a potty break I hiked out of river view and saw this spider web/flower combo.
The rocks on the shore were jewel hued.
Just a few flowers were in bloom.
The catch of the day: A twenty inch German Brown!
I wore my waders even though Kevin said I didn't really need them.
I was so tempted to go wading around in the clear water, wade up to my chest without getting wet in the cold water.
Maybe some other day that can happen.
It would surely scare the fish if I did that and THAT is never appreciated.
Kevin spotted the blue heron.
They are such beautiful birds.
and another fish...
and another fish...
Same rock as earlier in the post but with more background.
Beautiful, yes?
This Mama duck has her "hair" standing straight up on her head like a punk mama with gel on her dyed red hair.
Her three babies look like lumpy rocks; she is keeping a close eye on her huge almost grown babies that are still in baby down feathers.
End of the drift.
It was a little after nine at night.
Photography schools teach that the best time to take pictures will be at sunrise and sunset.
It wasn't until the end of the time on the river that the lighting finally became that special light that makes all the pictures look amazing.
Next to the boat launch was an "old school" wooden drift boat.
It was such a beauty; even the inside woodwork was finely crafted.
As Kevin went to get the truck to haul the boat out of the river, Bernie got in a few more casts.
He caught one last fish.
As he put it: It was a day that he will dream about forever.
It was almost an hour long drive back to the Flaming Gorge Resort where we had begun our day.
Kevin told us a bit about the history of the area; we passed by a place where three states touch.
And where Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall gang stayed.
Dinner...we ate at ten, peeling off our waders just before we went in.
By eleven we were fast asleep.
And Bernie dreamed on about fishing.
